Some foods are meant to be together: peas and carrots, beets and goat cheese, peanut butter and jelly… What? Beets and goat cheese weren’t the first things to come to mind? Well, I’ll save that for another day. I wanted to share a simple recipe for a snack I like to make using a combo most of us know and love, peanut butter and jelly.
This was actually an accidental discovery due to lack of planning and foresight secondary to vacation induced crazy-brain. You know what I mean? Fortunately, this marriage of flavors is somewhat flexible and I did not go down as the mom who starved her kiddos in the sand. These little roll-up bites are handy for travel, pre-workout, post-workout, or basically anytime you need a little pick-me up. I recently made them for a quick trip we made to the beach. And like a hot dog is to the ballpark, everything tastes better on the beach!
Jodi Coffee, who blogs at The Coffee House Life, is the mom of three beautiful and energetic little girls that ALWAYS give her something to blog about. She loves to try new things — food, travel and adventure. In her spare time…wait a minute. What is that? She enjoys training for triathlons, and is currently chasing a lifetime dream of crossing the finish line of her first IRONMAN. She is a backyard farmer, a farmers’ market manager and enjoys helping bring healthy opportunities to her community.
I’m so excited to bring you an incredible line-up of presenters for Foodie Friday #Megaphone17. Each of our speakers brings a special talent and expertise to our program, and you won’t want to miss a single one of them. All sessions will be held at the Fayetteville Town Center Mockingbird Room.
The Brand Within You
Amy Nelson Hannon of Springdale, Ark., is the owner of Euna Mae’s, a one-of-a-kind kitchen boutique that has become not only a special place to locals but has quickly become a destination shop for many around the country. Her hospitality message of Love Welcome Serve™ combined with her refreshing enthusiasm and approachable recipes has ignited a passion for the kitchen in both new and seasoned cooks. In addition to her kitchen store, Amy has an expansive media platform that includes a cooking show on Northwest Arkansas’ NBC station, as well as several social media platforms and a food blog.
Her first cookbook Love Welcome Serve: Food that Gathers and Gives will be available nationwide in November 2017. It is available for preorder now at https://shopeunamaes.myshopify.com/collections/exclusive-products/products/love-welcome-serve-recipes-that-gather-and-give-signed-cookbook-with-optional-exclusive-gift-sets-free-shipping.
Follow Amy on Twitter @amynelsonhannon and Euna Maes on Instagram
Passion, Purpose…Destiny!
Liz Bray is a former kindergarten teacher, who left the classroom in 2002 to become a personal chef, fulfilling her deep passion of cooking for others. After many years, she renovated a charming old building in downtown Benton that featured a commercial kitchen offering space for catered events, cooking classes and cooking for clients. Before it even opened, people were excited about a place for lunch, which was not her plan, but because she loved to please people with food, she allowed it to turn into a restaurant for lunch, a catered event space on nights and weekends, and cooking classes as often as possible.
Realizing her vision and passion were being absorbed in running a restaurant, she chose to sell Leave It to Liz in 2013 and return to her original heart.
Liz is a wife, mother of two and grandmother of four. She shares her love of cooking with her grandchildren, especially Sophie who seems destined to become a baker.
Liz will be sharing her food journey, her learning experiences in writing her book, why she chose to self-publish, the pros and cons of that decision, and how she is marketing her book.
Her newly published cookbook, Leave It to Liz, will be available for purchase at Megaphone. It can be mail ordered by contacting Liz at 6479 Congo Road, Benton, AR 72019. For more details, feel free to message her on Facebook or Instagram.
Food As Art
Jason Paul Roth is a chef, educator, and artist currently living in Springdale. AR. He became interested in food at a very young age while watching PBS cooking shows on television. After tinkering around at home, he found his way into a fine dining restaurant kitchen at age 14. Soon Jason began a traditional apprenticeship at Mary Elaine’s, a restaurant in Phoenix, Ariz. That foundation taught him the technical skills to began his journey. Through the years, he has worked in many different parts of the culinary field. After stints in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Maine, Jason landed in NWA and is currently the chef and owner of Heirloom, a boutique fine dining restaurant. Jason is also a chef/instructor at Brightwater, a newly- opened culinary school in Bentonville, Ark.
“I have a passion for creativity, restaurants and hospitality. All standards for someone in my field. But is there more for a chef? Where is the line between a skilled craftsmen and an artist? I want to find out and maybe start to draw outside those lines. I’m very excited about exploring the use of food as art in our modern day society. Art effects change and with the power of social media to translate images to a wider audience there is an unpaved road ahead for chefs to use their talents for more than just a meal. I would like to travel all avenues and parts of this mostly unexplored road to see where it leads. You often hear people say, “you eat with your eyes first”, so food presentation has long been important to us as chefs, but I would like to take it further. This talk is my way of trying to bring that medium into a larger light, beyond the walls of a restaurant. With food as our palate, and a plate as our canvas, let’s have a conversation about FOOD AS ART.”
Say Cheese- Creating Food Photos That Create Smiles
Nancy Pruitt is a photographer based out of Little Rock, AR. About 10 years ago, she decided to take a hobby she was passionate about and turn it into a family-benefiting career. Photographing everything from families to food, it is her desire to tell a story through her photography and learn from each experience. Most recently she has helped stage and capture the images for Chef Liz Bray’s inaugural cookbook, Just Leave it to Liz. Nancy and her husband Doug have 3 grown children and are in the process of developing a small farm with the goal of creating an indoor and outdoor photography studio as well as a home for their family and wide variety of critters.
“In this session we will discuss the photography aspect of your food presentations on social media and in print . We will look at some ways to get your images looking their best with some basic and creative photography tools.”
Several years ago, I was in Tulsa at an event at a bowling alley. Ok, it was a bowling tournament. For Hanson Day. Yes, that Hanson. I’m a big fan and attend their annual fan club event, which includes a bowling tournament (you can stop laughing now. I embrace my geekiness.) Anyway, after we finished bowling, we were starving. It was a small alley in downtown Tulsa and they didn’t cook – but they served a few unique things that were actually made in the restaurant next door and walked over between the alleyway. I don’t remember what my friends had, but I had a peanut butter burger. I love trying different and new things, and I had never seen peanut butter and burger in the same dish. It was delicious.The peanut butter was creamy and salty and a hint of sweet. The caramelized onions added a savory hit and the buns were crispy to hold up to so much burger – they were toasted frozen waffles!
I decided to create my own version (spoiler alert: I added bacon!). Don’t knock it until you try it! READ MORE
Brittney is wife to Tyler, mom to Remi and doggie mom to Mikey and Pippin. She works full time in marketing. She loves musicals, pedicures, queso and making new friends. Follow Brittney on her blog, Razorback Britt
When I heard this month’s song was Cheeseburger in Paradise I knew I had to do a good burger recipe. My dad is a Jimmy Buffett fan. All through my childhood on any road trip, including all the trips to Tulsa from Springdale and Florida, Jimmy Buffett CDs were what we would listen to. Cheeseburger in Paradise was always a favorite as a sing along. I’m sure I knew all the words by the time I was eight.The songs hold a special place in my heart and make me smile every time I hear them.
So today I am going to share with you a favorite charcoal grilled burger complete with bacon and cheddar cheese. Oh, and let’s not forget the homemade fries. Hubby and I couldn’t agree on which fries we wanted so I made both sweet potato fries and regular fries.Homemade fries seem daunting but they really are quite simple and healthier since they are baked. READ MORE
Renee, the voice behind If Spoons Could Talk, loves everything food related. You will often see her taking pictures of her food before eating, while her husband shakes his head, smiles and waits to eat, because of course she has to take a picture of his too. Her time is spent in the kitchen cooking, on the computer researching recipes, the rest of her time is spent with her husband and two fur babies watching TV. Now she is making time to get a masters and just got a full time teaching job.You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest as If Spoons Could Talk and on Twitter as Spoons Could Talk.
Cheeseburgers are a staple in our house. We are a low carb and gluten free family so we love lettuce wrapped burgers. My favorite way to cook them in the summertime is on the grill, but on those nights when I work late or we have had one of those long days when we were gone all day, I am just too lazy to pull out that grill and make burgers.
When we have those hectic nights, which seems to be more often than I care to admit, we still have burgersbut a simple preparation is a must.By changing those burgers into a fresh salad my family still gets a great dinner without me hovering over the grill all evening.
These Bacon Cheeseburger Bowls are a great way to have those delicious cheeseburgers in under thirty minutes. I don’t know about you, but any time I can feed my hungry family a home cooked dinner with only a half hour of cooking I am one happy girl! READ MORE
Keri is a sassy southern girl who loves cooking, reading and spending time with her family. She is a former corporate minded gal turned homeschool mom and baker. When she’s not covered in some flour you can find her blogging about recipes and getting healthy over at My Table for Three.
Throughout June we’ve been celebrating tart, red-ripened, delicious raspberries, and I’ve been humming “Raspberry Beret” the entire month. Can’t help it, y’all.
Now you’re humming along as well, I bet. Or singing. I admire you if you are.
One of our favorites for the short summer season of fresh raspberries is a Fresh Raspberry Sorbet. Less caloric than an ice cream, sorbet tempts you into thinking you can eat it with abandon. Well, maybe not. But it is light and refreshing on the palate.
And it’s summer. And the raspberries are in season. To find out how I make my Fresh Raspberry Sorbet, read more.
There have been so many delicious raspberry recipes this month. I hope you’ve taken the time to give them a try and to thank our Foodie Friday participants for going the extra mile to share those with you.
Renee and I pretty much had the same idea of bringing that raspberry goodness to a sorbet. I’m thinking you should try both — twice the love, ya’ know.
After eating our fill of cake and sorbet, Connie and Lyndi helped us out by bringing something healthy to the table. I’m thinking Connie’s Quick Raspberry Muffins would make a nice addition to a Fourth of July breakfast or brunch,
When I saw that this month’s theme song was Raspberry Beret ,I knew I had to make something. I had never heard of the song until around Christmas 2016 while we were at my in-laws for the holidays. It came on the radio and my father-in-law was singing along— except he would say sorbet instead of beret. It took me a few times to figure out that the song wasn’t about dessert and that it was supposed to be beret. I have not forgotten about it and it still makes me smile.
This sorbet recipe is adapted from the one that my in-laws made while we were home forFourth of July a few years ago. I must say it is delicious but the best part is that it is very easy to make. Read More
Renee, the voice behind If Spoons Could Talk, loves everything food related. You will often see her taking pictures of her food before eating, while her smiling husband shakes his head and waits to eat because, of course, she has to take a picture of his as well. Her time is spent cooking in the kitchen, researching recipes on the computer, or eating what she’s been researching and cooking! The rest of her time is spent with her husband and two fur babies watching TV. Now she is making time to get a masters so she can be a full-time teacher. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest as If Spoons Could Talk and on Twitter as Spoons Could Talk And of course over at If Spoons Could Talk
My life is blessed, which often means my days are busy.Six days a week my day begins at 5:30 AM and ends at midnight. I am a nurse practitioner with my own practice (Connie’s Family Practice) and teach an online nursing program.My family and I own and operate Bed and Biscuit Boarding and Faultine Athletics. My days can consist of seeing patients, being on call, grading papers, walking dogs, cleaning kennels, loading pitching machines, or updating Facebook pages.
It is difficult to eat healthy when there is very little time to prepare healthy food.I love quick recipes that are easy to prepare, carry with me, and include fresh ingredients.One recipe my family loves is Raspberry Quick Snack Muffins.
Did you Raspberries are good for you?
Here are a few of the health benefits of Raspberries:
Raspberries are rich in effective antioxidants as well phytonutrients. These elements proficiently reinforce your immune system and help your body to fight disease
Raspberries have high amounts of vitamin C, riboflavin, folate, magnesium, manganese, niacin, potassium and copper. This makes them a complete fruit to offer overall, health benefits.
Raspberries have a negligible effect on blood sugar level.
2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed
1 cup granulated white sugar or equal portion of Splenda
2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
In a separate bowl, mix the raspberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan, about 3/4 full using two spoons or an ice cream scoop.
Bake the muffins for about 20-25 minutes, until they’re light golden brown on top, and a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
Remove the muffins from the oven, loosen their edges from the pan, and after about 5 minutes transfer them to a rack to cool.
I hope your family enjoys these simple healthy snacks.
Connie is a 50-something wife, mother, Nana, doggie mom, living in a small community in Arkansas, located in the far Northeast corner of the State. She shares a home with her husband aka The Big Man, 14 rescue dogs and 20 chickens. Collectively they have six adult near-perfect children, five perfect grandboys, 1 granddaughter, 2 god-daughters and 4 awesome granddogs.Connie is a family nurse practitioner who runs a small family clinic, is a visiting professor in an online nursing program and manages a free health clinic (Great River Charitable Clinic). Her and the Big Man also own and operate Bed and Biscuit Boarding and Faultline Athletics. Connie is an active member of the Blytheville Humane Society. Her Blog http://scrapbookwife.blogspot.com/ chronicles her journey to live a balance simple life making her little corner of the world a better place to live.
Okay, let’s get real. It seems like 90% of the time that I write a Foodie Friday post, it is a salad. What can I say? I really dig a salad.
The thing is, I didn’t always feel that way. A salad was meant to be a garnish, a side dish, or a filler food that you put in a realllllly large bowl to make it look like you were serving guests a ton of food. It wasn’t meant to be the main dish or the meal itself. In fact, whenever I would go out to eat with teammates and they * gasp * ordered a salad as their meal, eye rolling would commence.
Now? Gimme a salad. I’m a convert.
This raspberry and spinach salad should be called the Raspberry, smoked turkey, feta, almond, and avocado spinach salad instead of Raspberry and spinach salad. You can’t put a salad like this in the corner. In fact, I may ask Debbie to rename this post the “No one puts Baby spinach and Raspberry salad in the corner.”This salad was meant to shine on its’ own.
If you are craving something healthy, this is your salad.
If you do not want to prep tons of vegetables, this is your salad.
If you want a comfort food that won’t mess up your diet, this is your salad.
If you want a satisfying meal that is delicious, this is your salad.
And most importantly, if you want something eat while watching Dirty Dancing on your day off, this my friends, is your salad.
It’s June and while it may not officially be summer, school is out and the summer heat is just getting turned on.My garden is finally getting the kick it needed. One of the few fruits of my yard I have been enjoying is my raspberries.They over spill in a flower bed near our back porch.I have a table where I write and draw at that’s right next to the raspberry bed.I can reach out and snatch a snack when needed.As a teenager I developed a sever allergy to the “other red berry” so raspberries are my go to berries.
While these late spring temps are still pleasant we know the heat is coming. One thing I always look for as the temperatures rise outside is a way to cook that does not heat up my house. Dessert, in my opinion, is often greatly overlooked. Sometimes you just want a little dessert that doesn’t involve a major baking event.A small one or two serving creation doesn’t sit around on your counter tempting you to indulge.So in my desire to beat the heat and not eat a whole cake myself I created this microwave cup of cake recipe.
I can hear you now. “Microwave?!”But trust me on this.Think of it as a grown up much tastier version of our Easy Bake Oven adventures.The recipe is easily adaptable to many flavors.But since I have raspberries in abundance and there’s always an occasion for chocolate, I whipped up this version of a Choco-Raspberry Micro Cake.
This is also a quick and easy recipe for the kids to make.Watch the video of my son and me whipping up a bowl.
Combine all dry ingredients into a small mixing bowl with a fork.
Whisk all remaining wet ingredients with the fork in a liquid measuring cup.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Lightly grease 2-3 coffee cups, ramekins, or 1 cereal bowl. Toss in a few raspberries. Pour batter halfway up baking dish. Place the cup on a plate in case the cup overflows while cooking.
Microwave on high in two 30-second intervals. Cook in 15-second intervals until you can smell the chocolate.
Be careful because the cake and cup will be hot. Top with whipped cream, ice cream, or powdered sugar and enjoy!
The Brand Within You
Connie is a 50-something wife, mother, Nana, doggie mom, living in a small community in Arkansas, located in the far Northeast corner of the State. She shares a home with her husband aka The Big Man, 14 rescue dogs and 20 chickens. Collectively they have six adult near-perfect children, five perfect grandboys, 1 granddaughter, 2 god-daughters and 4 awesome granddogs.
